In Italy… Something is Happening, and it’s Scary…
What a difference a few months can make!
Before Italy’s election last fall, many people believed Giorgia Meloni was dangerous. Everyone had forgotten about her youthful passion for Benito Mussolini, her party’s links to neofascists, and her frequently harsh statements by this summer. Ms. Meloni has established herself as a reliable Western collaborator, in the core of both Group of Seven negotiations and NATO summits. Her pragmatism and sympathy for Ukraine have been lauded. Her journey to Washington on Thursday will cement her standing as a respected member of the international community.
However, the tale of a nationalist rebel who changed his views and became a realist overlooks a key point: what has been going on in Italy. Ms. Meloni’s first few months in office were spent accusing minorities of betraying God, nation, and family. This had a devastating impact on refugees, non-governmental groups, and same-sex parenting. There are also concerning moves to reduce torture rules, crowd the public media with sympathisers, and rewrite Italy’s wartime constitution to give the government greater authority. Ms. Meloni’s administration is not just nationalist, but also brutal and tyrannical.
This is already a disaster for Italy. However, it is significant beyond its limitations because it demonstrates how the extreme right and the centre right may work together to overcome old barriers. Ms. Meloni’s friends already hold power in Poland, and their backing for Ukraine has given them even more credibility. In Sweden, the nationalist Sweden Democrats work with a coalition of center-right parties to govern the country. In Finland, the anti-immigrant Finns Party went one step farther and entered the administration. Even while these organisations, like many of their European counterparts, formerly said that they did not want to join NATO or the European Union, they now want to join in order to influence them from inside. Ms. Meloni is the one in charge of this initiative.
Ms. Meloni’s language has improved since she became Prime Minister. In formal settings, she strives hard to seem intelligent and meticulous. This is aided by her preference for giving live addresses rather than being questioned by reporters. She should also expect her Brothers of Italy colleagues to be less courteous. Because LGBT parents are one of the government’s primary priorities, party officials have declared surrogate parenting a “crime worse than paedophilia,” claiming that homosexual individuals are “passing off” foreign children as their own. Ms. Meloni may seem disinterested in this kind of conversation, and she may even imply that she dislikes how intense it is. However, her decisions as a politician demonstrate passion rather than concern. The government made it unlawful to adopt children from foreign countries through surrogacy and instructed cities and municipalities to cease reporting same-sex parents, leaving youngsters in legal limbo.
The same is true for newcomers. The Agriculture Minister, who is also Ms. Meloni’s brother-in-law and a long-time friend, has taken the lead in urging people to reject “ethnic replacement.” Ms. Meloni isn’t opposed to the phrase; in fact, she used it to defeat a measure in 2017 that would have granted citizenship to children born in Italy to non-citizen parents. However, she hasn’t used it herself since assuming office. However, her appeal for “births, not migrants” implies the same thing, and her administration has been built on a strong anti-migration attitude. A law implemented in April requires applicants seeking asylum to dwell in state-run migration shelters while their applications are processed. This may take up to two years, and persons in these facilities do not get legal assistance or learn Italian. Ms. Meloni has recently spearheaded an attempt to persuade the European Union and Tunisia to collaborate to limit migration in exchange for financial assistance. Tunisia’s leadership is totalitarian and believes in the “great replacement” conspiracy theory.
According to Amnesty International, this administration is not the only one that employs repression: Previous administrations had a similar relationship with Libya, and under Italian pressure, a new European Union migration pact offers member states additional ability to deport refugees. However, in Italy, the border is becoming increasingly distinct. In June, the authorities detained two migrant rescue ships on suspicion of violating a new legislation intended to restrict what they might do. Legislation approved in February states that NGOs’ ships may only perform one rescue, despite the fact that the Italian government has frequently disregarded emergency requests from ships in peril. More than 2,000 people die each year while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. People will continue to die as a result of the Meloni administration’s actions.
Even journalists are under a great deal of pressure. Sitting ministers have threatened and, in some instances, brought libel suits against the Italian press in a clear effort to suppress opponents. The RAI state station is also under jeopardy, and not simply because its five-year aim involves “promoting birthrates.” It has become a lot like tele-Meloni, with individuals being selected and chosen at whim, after its CEO and senior hosts departed, alleging political pressure from the new administration. The new director general, Giampaolo Rossi, is a fervent Meloni admirer who built a reputation for himself by organising an annual Brothers of Italy event. Many of his anti-immigrant social media postings and an interview he gave to a neofascist publication in which he blasted the “caricature” of antifascism that hovers over public life were shared after he was appointed.
This is important to more than just him. The Brothers of Italy, a group whose origins can be traced back to the annihilation of their fascist forefathers in 1945, are deeply committed to burying the antifascist history of the wartime Resistance. Ms. Meloni, as Prime Minister, has said that Italy’s antifascist culture after WWII was an authoritarian mindset that was even to blame for the murders of right-wing militants during the 1970s political turmoil. Not only must history be modified. The post-World War II Constitution, drafted by the Resistance parties, is likewise required for revision. The Brothers of Italy aspire to establish a directly elected head of government as well as a powerful administration with fewer constraints. Despite the fact that Ms. Meloni’s administration is young, it has a high opportunity of implementing long-lasting improvements.
Despite its origins in Mussolini’s reign, this administration is not a return to the past. Instead, if it unifies the political right behind an angry identity politics, it risks becoming something else: the future of Europe. Conservatives in the United Kingdom share Ms. Meloni’s fixation with birthrates over immigration. Anti-immigrant French politicians, such as Éric Zemmour, appeal to Italy as an example of how to “unite the forces of the right.” Even in Germany, the Christian Democrats’ long-standing unwillingness to accept coalitions with the Alternative for Germany is under scrutiny.
Success is not guaranteed. Ms. Meloni told her nationalist buddy Vox before Spain’s election last week that “the time of the patriots has come.” However, Vox’s vote share fell, and right-wing parties failed to secure a majority. Nonetheless, Vox has established itself as a permanent fixture in the political landscape and a reliable ally for Republicans. Despite their growing success, these organisations have been depicted for years as rebellious outsiders who speak for people who have been neglected for far too long. The more alarming reality is that they are no longer protest parties and are more accepted by the general public. Just look at what happened in Washington on Thursday.
